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Betta fins suddenly shredded

I remember I had this new male in quarantine.
I keep the quarantine fish away from all my other fish.
I was in the kitchen and kept hearing plunk...clunk, plink, plunk,
bonk, etc....repeatedly.
Turns out it was one of the new males trying to get out of his
quarantine container. He was hitting the underside of the lid.
2 yr ago one of my lovely white males jumped through a hole no bigger
than 1/2" wide and little longer. He happened to jump right in front of
sleeping cat. He was "tasted" a bit and then left.
Good thing I found him when I did. He was just laying there, a few
holes in him where the cat had tasted him, bloody and almost all dried
out.
He survived his injuries, amazingly and never jumped through that hole
again! lol
(I didn't punish the cat as she did nonthing wrong. I mean heck, a fish
falls out of the sky and all, hehe.
She could have eaten him, or killed him, but she didn't. She just had a
taste and then went back to sleep. = )~

Ack! I have 2 bettas in a divided 2.5 gal tank with a Nano Filter. I
woke up this morning and both bettas' fins are in tatters. I'm talking

total, heartbreaking shreds. Both were in perfect shape last night.

Hi Elaine. I reposted your original post that explained what you found
the next morning.
Fine the night before, and absolutely shredded by morning does sound
like one hopped over divider.
Don't dismiss that so lightly. It is *very* possible and the main
reason i do NOT divide male Betta tanks, as well have lids on any of
them that are next to one another.
These fish are very capable at aiming their bodies through a very small
place...and getting back.

I sure wish I could have seen what happened. Well...a round of
formalin/malachite won't hurt anything and Richard's idea fits too.
There is NO gap now in the divider so they cannot do it again. I guess
that's what I get for rescuing too many bettas. :-(

Nah....you can never, ever, ever have too many Bettas.
I mean, I don't even really understand that whole thing..too many, LOL.
= )~
Now on the other hand, my Hubby may tell you a different story. = )

Just do like me...get more tanks. = )
Also...if you have tanks that have a cabinet stand...that's usuable
tank space. I have 2 1/2g's (regular shaped, AllGlass brand tanks) in
rows under my 75g. I also had one in the 29g's cabinet.
Kitchen counters are great too. (Hubby put his foot down on that one
when I'm not spawning Bettas, so I only have the 3g Eclipse tank in the
corner of the counter. It was dead space anyway, as it went pretty deep
back there, and nothing ever looked right back there. That was until I
put the 3g Eclipse there. It looks as if it were made for that spot.
Even the Hubby likes it. That says a lot!
However, when I have Betta fry I keep them in 2 1/2g tanks on the
counter for the first few weeks. I like to keep a close eye on them,
watch the temp closely and feeding them several times a day, is made so
much easier when they're right there. Tried it with them inside the
tank cabinet and forget it. Got a "crick" in my neck checking on them
so often, lol.

The bettas' fins are growing back much more rapidly than I had hoped
with generous feedings and frequent small water changes. I also treated
with formalin/malachite just to be sure there wasn't a protozoal
disease. Of course, I have made absolutely sure that there is no way
the bettas could get to each other now.

I've found that floating water sprite will grow on ambient light in that
tank, so now the tank has both java moss and water sprite. I'm hoping
that having more plants and adequate nitrate levels will stop the
cyanobacter from growing on the off chance it's a problem.

Oh, I also wanted to mention that I have had major shredded fins occur
when I'm not carful with ph testing. My tap water is more alkaline then
my tank water so if I'm not careful and change too much water (50%) the
pH levels fluctuate more then the .2 safe range. That's when I notice
shredding on my old betta.

I actually haven't heard anyone verify that pH fluctuations can cause
shredded fins so I can't say for sure if this is true, but I have seen
it a few times now and it's consistant with pH fluctuations.

Maybe someone can verify or discount this theory for me. I'd like to
know.

Thanks,
christie

Hi Christie, I just noticed that my betta fish, Cyril has the beginnings of shredding on the top edge of his tail. (so it can't be from dragging his tail on gravel at night.) I just did a 20% water change yesterday and now that I am testing the water I see that it is very alkaline. I freaked out and started googling immediately, which is how I found your post. I think I may be experiencing the same thing you are. Did your fish heal? what did you do to fix the situation? Thanks!
Lia